Rock Plaza Central - I Am An Excellent Steel Horse (live in the MOKB/WEEM studio 9/7/07) Rock Plaza Central - Are We Not Horses? Rock Plaza Central - How Shall I To Heaven Aspire (live in the MOKB/WEEM studio 9/7/07). Meet 'Mack', the nickname given to the 'Rite of Passage' artwork located in the Farragut Memorial Plaza, next to the Museum at the Brig. He represents the 293,381 sailors who trained on these grounds for duty in World War II. Horses are not allowed south of Highway 54 in the park. History of Farragut State Park. We are also only a short drive from Shackleford Crossing Mall, Park Plaza Mall, Promenade Mall at Chenal, and the Pleasant Ridge Shopping Mall. Business travelers will be impressed by the comfort & amenities of our new Holiday Inn.
It was an otherwise unremarkable occurrence – a lone stone, possibly weakened by erosion, cracked, slipped and plummeted to earth.
But this stone was not unremarkable. It had been placed there centuries ago as part of a long stretch of limestone blocks in Jerusalem called the Western Wall – known also as the Wailing Wall – which includes remnants of the Temple Mount, the holiest prayer site for Jews.
Roughly a metre thick, and weighing around 100kg, the slab crashed down in late July, narrowly avoiding a worshipper. It smashed into a wooden platform used by liberal-minded Jews who prefer a mixed-sex prayer space rather than the central plaza, where religious authorities require men and women to pray separately.
Lying in the rubble and splintered wood, the stone has exposed cracks in the Jewish community, especially between the Orthodox, who run the area, and the more progressive branches. Public figures have suggested that the location of the fall was pertinent, possibly signifying divine intervention. After the incident, deputy Jerusalem mayor Dov Kalmanovich appeared to blame mixed-sex prayers, saying worshippers should “examine themselves”. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the chief custodian of the Western Wall, said it was not his place to interpret signs but that the incident called for “personal introspection”.
Others have questioned the stability of the 2,000-year-old structure. A 2014 study had found that parts of the wall were eroding, and Joe Uziel, an archaeologist at the Israel Antiquities Authority, said that a full survey was now being proposed, which would call for scaffolding.
“We’re taking this as a sort of jumping forward point to say we need to do this for the entire complex of the Temple Mount walls,” he said.
Such an endeavour would add further complications. The Western Wall is part of a site revered by Muslims, which they call al-Haram al-Sharif; al-Aqsa mosque and the Dome of the Rock lie above it.
The Waqf, a Jordan-funded Islamic body, administers Islam’s third holiest site under an extremely delicate status quo agreed with Israel. Work or excavations by either side are a sensitive issue, as they may be seen by the other as infringing on sacred land. In 1996, following the inauguration of Israeli-built tunnels alongside the Western Wall, riots broke out and dozens lost their lives. The riots began after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened an exit in the Muslim Quarter to the excavated tunnel complex, where visitors can view underground sections of the Western Wall and other ancient passageways and vaults.
Fouad Hallak, a Jerusalem policy adviser at the negotiations affairs department of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, said that Palestinians in and around the Old City area had long complained of damage to their houses “because the foundation is moving below us”.
Asked whether the Waqf should be consulted on any surveys and conservation efforts, Rabbi Rabinowitz said: “The Western Wall belongs to the Jewish people … we don’t do anything secretly, but we don’t have to consult anybody.”
Outside his office, in the blinding August sun, the main plaza was filled with a broad spectrum of Jews. Secular Israelis from Tel Aviv in T-shirts and sunglasses visited for the day while Orthodox Jews in black jackets and hats took their prayer books to the wall. Foreign tourists covered in sunscreen took selfies.
All had come through security gates, where bags are X-rayed. From there, they entered the open square, formerly the Moroccan Quarter, which was flattened after Israeli forces occupied east Jerusalem in 1967.
Many had come for bar mitzvahs, the Jewish coming-of-age ceremony: cheerful families followed 13-year-old boys. By the wall, the sexes separated, and the boys moved into the male-only area for their first reading of the Torah. Their sisters and mothers peeked over a wooden barrier to get a look, throwing small wrapped sweets in celebration.With Rabbi Rabinowitz in charge, the site remains under Orthodox tradition. On their side, women are not allowed to wear prayer shawls or read aloud from Torah scrolls.
This practice has been challenged, most notably by the Women of the Wall, a group that has campaigned for equal rights in the plaza. In the past, they have flouted the rules, which has sparked protests and even arrests. Over the past couple of years, the issue has become one of the most contentious among diaspora Jewry, where there are large progressive populations.
Issak, a 57-year-old Orthodox Jew, visits the wall once a month. Reform Jews, a progressive branch, should not push for mixed prayer in the plaza, he said. “The people who are bringing the whole discussion of Judaism to the Western Wall, they should stop it.” Another Orthodox worshipper said that not every Jewish denomination had the right to make demands.
Why the Temple Mount and Haram al-Sharif are important
For Jews, the Western Wall is the holiest site where they can pray and is considered to be the last remnant of a retaining wall that surrounded a Biblical temple.
For Muslims, the site is believed to be where Prophet Muhammed tied his horse at the end of his journey to Jerusalem.
The entire complex above the wall, including the Dome of the Rock and the al-Aqsa Mosque, is called the Noble Sanctuary, or Haram al-Sharif, but referred to by Jews as the Temple Mount.
While Jews are allowed to visit the site under supervision, they are not permitted to pray openly and so worship below at the Western Wall.
Until the Six Day Warin 1967, in which Israel occupied and later annexed the Old City of Jerusalem, the area adjacent to the Western Wall was the Muslim Moroccan Quarter, which was razed by Israel to make space for the prayer plaza, which now serves as a synagogue.
The Temple Mount/Haram al-Sharif complex has been a place of focused religious and political sensitivity. In 2000 a period of intense Israeli-Palestinian violence, known as the Second Intifada, began when Israeli politician Ariel Sharon made a provocative visit to the site.
Like a sea of white wings
And I’ve done some horrible things
Lies in the drinks (<--?)
We are a saddleless storm,
We have satellite sores on our backs
Father says you don’t trust men
They only have one truth
And the truth is not your friend
Because we galloped like ants
And our copper manes danced in the wind
They say that we’re not horses
But they’re not friends
Cause if we’re not horses
What are we then?
And I’ve done some horrible things
Separate the angel from her wings
And I’ve seen some horrible things
And the horrors they bring
Maybe you’re almost there (<--?)
And the things that you said I was needing
How I was I to know that the words
Weren’t the ones that were leading?
But the light in your eyes made
Some lies worth believing.
Am I just a lightning rod
Or am I breathing?
And if we’re not horses
What are we then?
Lyrics submitted by furious_george13
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Rock Plaza Central Are We Not Horses Rare
Rock Plaza Central Are We Not Horses Rare
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